The present invention relates to a boat with at least a portion of the freeboard in the region of the stem of the boat arranged to be moved between a closed position, in which it seals the space inside the freeboard with respect to the exterior of the boat, and an opened position, in which it provides an opening between the exterior of the boat and said space so as to enable to pick up objects from the water in which the boat floats through said opening.
The invention relates to boats having such a movable freeboard portion so as to enable to pick up all types of objects from the water, such as when fishing, decontamination work and saving of persons in distress or the like. However, the latter application will mainly be discussed hereinafter, i.e. a said boat with the main task to function as life boat, so as to illuminate the invention and the problem to be solved thereby, but accordingly not in any way restrict the invention thereto.
It is known for known boats of the type mentioned above to arrange said freeboard portion in the form of a stem lid which may be folded down for providing a said opening. This means a number of disadvantages. This lid may for obvious reasons only have a restricted width so as to not give the boat a shape strongly restricting the driving ability thereof. The restricted width means that it may sometimes be difficult to carry out work for picking up distressed persons from the water, especially in high sea. Another disadvantage of such a lid is that it attends to constitute an obstacle and disturb the saving work and prevent persons to be picked up in a satisfying way. Furthermore, the size of the opening is fixed and may not be adapted to exactly the work to be carried out for the moment with the boat.